REVIEW: Punk songwriter Vic still has music in his veins

Nick Linazasoro

It all started on November 8, 1978, when I had dutifully paid my £2 entrance fee to my very first gig.

It was being held at The Top Rank Suite at the bottom of West Street in Brighton.

The headline band was The Buzzcocks, but their support band was none other than Subway Sect. Little did I know that my very first gig was going to be legendary.

It was the hey-day of punk and the crowd still then showed their ‘appreciation’ by spitting at the bands! The Buzzcocks were getting very tired of the tirade of mucus heading their way and so decided not to play an encore. The punters were angry at this and when it was apparent that the band weren’t coming back on stage to play any more songs, the crowd rioted.

God knows what Vic Godard and his pals thought at the time.

Well, here we are nearly 38 years later and good old Vic is still on the case, although he obviously looks quite a bit different these days, somehow reminding me of Ron Mael of Sparks.

But obviously music is in his veins. He even did a couple of tracks with his support band The Bitter Springs. Those who honour The Fall will like them and singer Simon Rivers certainly likes a bit of banter with the crowd. They performed 13 tracks which is quite a lot for a support band.

Vic Godard formed Subway Sect back in 1976 at Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren’s request as he needed another band for the 100 Club Punk Festival.

Vic then toured with The Clash in 1977 on their White Riot Tour and Subway Sect released their debut record Nobody’s Scared (which I bought from Attrix Records) in 1978 on Bernie Rhodes Braik Records.

So Vic has punk ethics ingrained into his DNA and that’s why he is a grounded-with-the-fans sort of fellow.